An electric toothbrush may incorporate a brush section that couples to a handle section. Mechanical linkages may connect one or more movable portions in the brush section to an electric drive disposed within an interior of the handle section. The electric drive may impart a rotary, oscillating or combined rotary oscillating motion to the movable portions so that they move in a rotary or oscillating manner. The movement of the movable portions provide a desired cleaning action.
Electric toothbrushes are often larger in size than non-electric toothbrushes, due to the presence of an electric motor, batteries, various mechanical linkages, electrically-driven head portions, and other components. Electric toothbrushes also often weigh more than non-electric toothbrushes, again due to the presence of those various components. In order to minimize the physical size and weight of an electric toothbrush, many of the individual components can be manufactured to be as small and light as practical. One of the factors limiting the use of small and light components in an electrical toothbrush, however, is durability. For example, it is desirable for a toothbrush to meet certain “drop test” requirements. In this context, a drop test specifies one or more laboratory conditions which are typically meant to emulate what would occur if a user were to drop the toothbrush. Such conditions include, for example, the height of a drop, the orientation of the toothbrush when it is dropped, the material and conditions of the surface impacted by the toothbrush to stop its fall, and the like. The toothbrush passes the drop test if, after being dropped under the specified conditions, it is not fractured or otherwise materially damaged. Thus, the choice of materials and degree of minimization to reduce the physical size and weight of a toothbrush is limited by durability requirements, such as drop test requirements.
The present application sets forth an electric toothbrush design which advantageously increases the resistance of the brush head to fractures or other material damage which might otherwise result from impacts, such as for example caused by dropping the toothbrush.